Burpo, who … Read the rest →]]>

Last weekend I went to see the movie Heaven is For Real. In it, Greg Kinnear plays Nebraska pastor Todd Burpo whose four-year-old son Colton has a near-death experience and claims to have gone to heaven.

Burpo, who preaches every Sunday about Jesus and heaven, struggles to believe that his son really went to heaven despite some pretty compelling evidence (Colton speaks very matter-of-factly about things that happened before his birth—such as the baby his mother lost preterm). Burpo begins to question what heaven really is, and how to preach about it to his congregation.

Belief is a funny thing. Some people believe in God, and Jesus. Some believe in Allah. Some people believe that the bible is the religious text and claim it is proof that Jesus lived. Others read the Torah or the Koran and proclaim it to be the true religious text.

In many parts of the world reincarnation is a given. In some places, not so much. Some people don’t believe in anything religious or spiritual.

In a recent blog post, Pennies From Heaven I talked about messages that I believe my departed loved ones have left to remind me that they are still with me. Someone I know read the post and had this to say:

Suzanne PLEASE don’t believe these things. The bible very clearly shows that the dead are asleep in the grave until the resurrection when Jesus returns. The devil preys on people’s grief and puts on demonstrations trying to convince that their loved ones are around , or in heaven and trying to send them messages. PLEASE stay away from this it is NOT your mom or your sister.

So who’s right?

In the final sermon, Todd Burpo poses the following question, “If we knew for sure that heaven existed, wouldn’t we live our lives differently?”

He then goes on to say that one of the problems is that we measure miracles with yardsticks instead of looking for them in the everyday joys that surround us. Heaven is all around us and it’s in us.

One of the beautiful things about living in America is that we’re free to believe whatever we want. Whatever helps us make sense of this life and the world around us, whatever comforts us in our greatest hours of need.

In terms of what happens after this life? By the time any of us learns for sure, it’ll be too late to tell.

As for me? I believe in God. And in angels. The pennies from heaven and all the other messages I receive comfort me, give me hope, make me feel less alone.

And no matter what religious or spiritual belief you subscribe to, how can that be wrong?

What about you? If you knew for sure that heaven existed, would you live your life differently?

coincidence: a remarkable occurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection

A few months back, I was sitting in L&L Hawaiian BBQ singing the words to the song My Favorite Things (from the Sound of Music). The next thing … Read the rest →]]>

coincidence: a remarkable occurrence of events or circumstances
without apparent causal connection

A few months back, I was sitting in L&L Hawaiian BBQ singing the words to the song My Favorite Things (from the Sound of Music). The next thing I know, the song begins to play on the overhead speakers in the restaurant.

Coincidence? Maybe. But read on.

I’d been thinking about my dad all day (he passed away 10 years ago), and when I was a little girl he used to take my sisters and I to the theater to see The Sound of Music every year. Since then, the movie has become synonymous with my father.

Still think it was coincidence?

Not me. I believe that the song on the radio was his way of letting me know that he was with me. That he was thinking of me, too.

I believe that the occurrences of events in our lives are the result of fate, destiny and not coincidence. But sometimes I think it’s something more.

Last week I wrote THE END on a book I started almost a year ago. In it, one of my characters—call him Mac—was a fighter pilot in the Navy during World War 2. He did his basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, located north of Chicago in Illinois. He then went on to Pensacola, Florida to do his flight training.

This summer, my niece Jessica, who lived in Southern California, announced that she was joining the Navy. Last week she graduated from Boot Camp at Great Lakes Naval Station. The following day she flew to Pensacola, Florida, where she is now stationed.

This got me thinking.

Two years ago I wrote a book called The Many Lives of June Crandall. Originally the title was supposed to be The Many Lives of June Crandell, but then my editor sent it back to me with the slight variation in the title.

Believing that this was not a mere accident, I decided to Google the last name Crandell. I didn’t find much in terms of significance. Nothing spoke to me. Then I Googled the name Crandall. The first item that popped up was an obituary of a woman named June Crandall. She’d been 76. She lived her entire life in a small town outside of Detroit, Michigan called Battle Creek. And she was born on March 19^th.

At the time, my book had 76 chapters. My mother grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan. And I was born on March 19^th. And so the title of my book officially became The Many Lives of June Crandall.

But wait, there’s more. The heroine in the book is named Grace. And in the story, her mother becomes paralyzed after a tragic accident. In February of this year, my niece Jenny had a daughter whom she named Grace. And this summer, Jenny’s mother (my sister) became paralyzed.

I’m not sure what this all means exactly, but it does seem that some force was at play, guiding me in my writing. Was it mere coincidence that I wrote about events that would one day become significant to me? Was it fate or destiny (personally I’d prefer to think that my sister’s paralysis was not fated)? Or something more? Intuition, maybe?

What do you think? Have you ever experienced something significant that cannot be explained by coincidence? I want to know! I love hearing from you. And to prove it, for every comment you leave, you’ll be entered into a drawing. At the end of the month, I will draw a lucky winner who will receive a $10 gift card (your choice, Amazon, Starbucks or iTunes). Winners will be announced in the first post of the following month.

Congratulations to Gretchen Wing, the November winner!

Many of us have fears that, for whatever reason, we don’t share with others (even the ones we love). Our secret fears. Last week I talked about my secret fear: the fear … Read the rest →]]>

Many of us have fears that, for whatever reason, we don’t share with others (even the ones we love). Our secret fears. Last week I talked about my secret fear: the fear of death (see The Gift of Fear: Becoming Friendly with Your Fear), and how I was able to overcome the stranglehold it once had on me.

Today I’m going to talk about how I actually overcame my fear of death. And I’ll just warn you right now, it’s a rather woo-woo (out there) story. And so I’ll offer this disclaimer: If you are not open to the possibility that your soul may have passed this way before (i.e. reincarnation), you may wish to stop reading here (but I hope you don’t).

It began like this. In January of 2009, as I was meandering through the country roads on my way to work—the same roads I’d been driving for seven years at that point—I passed a pickup truck towing a trailer (not an unusual or significant experience), and a shiver of fear passed through me like an electrical current. And just as quickly, the feeling passed.

Until the next time.

Over the course of the next two months, every time I passed a pickup towing a trailer, my fear intensified. It got so severe that when I saw one coming, I’d grip the steering wheel with both hands and hold my breath as it passed. When my carpool mate was driving, I’d clench my hands, hold my breath and close my eyes.

And with each passing day, I began to experience the sensation of a head-on crash. It began with a vision of the crash. Then I began hearing the sound of glass breaking. Finally, I began to feel the glass and metal as it crushed my body.

On the last day, I felt my breath leave my body, and I knew I had just died.

It took only a split second to regain control of my senses and, fortunately, we were only a quarter of a mile from work. I pulled into the gas station at work, glanced over at my friend (who was happily clicking away on her blackberry), and FREAKED OUT.

My hands shook so badly I couldn’t grip the door handle. My breath came in rapid gasps, and tears streamed down my cheeks.

What the hell had just happened to me?

I spent the morning, unable to speak (to anyone), wondering how I was going to tell my husband that I was going to have to quit my job because I was too afraid to drive to work anymore. No matter how the conversation went in my head, I could see no way of escaping hospitalization. In a psych ward. Because, even to me, I sounded crazy.

At around 3 o’clock that afternoon, I called my carpool mate (and good friend) into my office and told her what happened.

“I think I had a premonition,” I said after telling her the whole story.

She shook her head. “No, I think you relived a past-life experience.”

After talking some more, my friend asked me if I needed for her to drive home. “No, I’ll be okay,” I said, not entirely sure I would be, but the amazing thing is? I never had that fear again!

Up to that point, I had never really considered the idea of reincarnation. But I certainly liked the idea that I’d had a past-life experience better than the thought that I’d had a premonition of my death. And that night I pulled a book from the shelf that I had purchased nearly a year before (The Instruction, by Ainslie MacLeod) after seeing the author on Oprah’s Soul Series, and began reading it.

As I mentioned last week, I’ve read literally dozens (if not hundreds) of books on spirituality, but none resonated with me like this one. Perhaps it was the book, or maybe it was the timing of this particular book in my life. Either way, everything I read about soul levels, soul missions and past-life fears made perfect sense to me.

The following year, I had three sessions with Ainslie MacLeod (he’s a spiritual psychic, specializing in past-life experiences). I learned about many of my past lives and came to understand many of the phobias and quirks that I have in this lifetime. I learned that I did in fact die in a car accident in a previous life and that, when I had the experience the year before, it was when my soul incorporated all the lessons from that previous life.

“When something like this happens,” Ainslie said, “a significant shift occurs in your present lifetime. Did you notice anything profound change in you as a result of this?”

“Yes,” I told him. “I am no longer afraid of dying.”

Call it a past-life experience or déjà vu. Call it whatever you’d like. The bottom line for me is that I am no longer afraid to die (okay, maybe a little afraid of the physical act of dying, but not about what happens afterward). I no longer imagine myself stuck six feet under the ground for all of eternity.

I’m free to live my life, and when it’s over, I know that all my loved one’s who have passed before me will be waiting for me. And then we’ll all be onto our next adventure.

What spiritual belief’s help you cope with the fears in your life? I love hearing from you. And to prove it, for every comment you leave, you’ll be entered into a drawing. At the end of the month, I will draw a lucky winner who will receive a $10 gift card (your choice, Amazon, Starbucks or iTunes). Winners will be announced in the first post of the following month.

My fear of death began as a … Read the rest →]]>

Fear can undo even the best of us. But it can also teach us a lot about ourselves if we are willing to look deeply enough.

My fear of death began as a child. I used to lay awake at night and imagine being buried in the ground forever. And EVER. I guess in my child’s mind I assumed I would be awake, or at least aware, of what was going on, and the thought terrified me beyond measure.

I’ve always believed it God, even went to church and Sunday school as a young girl, but apparently I missed the part about how—when you die—your soul leaves your body and goes to heaven. Or maybe by then my fear was too deep-seated and those discussions were too scary. Or maybe (and this is very possible), because I was just a kid, I wasn’t paying attention.

But my fear led me to a lifetime exploration for something more. From the time I was a teenager I began to read books on various religions, spirituality, pretty much any self-help book I could get my hands on. But nothing quelled that paralyzing fear inside me.

So great was my fear that I could not—would not—have a conversation about death with anyone (at least not without having a full-on panic attack). I wanted, more than anything, to believe that when I die my soul would leave my body and go to heaven, but then that fear of lying in the ground for eternity would rush back up to greet me. And so, when my husband suggested we have our wills done? No way. It was never going to happen.

And then a couple of amazing things happened.  First, in 2008, I read the book A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle. This book was a life changer for me. I read it over and over and eventually bought the book on tape, to which I’ve listened at least a hundred times. The book is filled with so much wisdom, but in terms of living with my fears, the most significant piece of advice was simply learning to acknowledge that there is fear in me.

Yep, I would say over and over, there it is. That fear of death. Eventually, by the simple act of acknowledging it, the fear lessened its grip on me.

I then took things one step further and told my friend and carpool partner, Elizabeth, about my fear.  As it turns out, my girlfriend has NO fear of dying and so we ended up having many discussions about death and what happens afterward.

After a while, I began to talk more openly about death. I told my husband to go ahead and make an appointment to have our wills and living trust done. I even told him what I would like done with my remains when I die (this was HUGE).

It wasn’t a perfect solution because the fear was still there, I just refused to let it have such an important place in my life. After all, if I spend my life being afraid of dying, how is that really living?

What about you? What’s your biggest fear? I love hearing from you. And to prove it, for every comment you leave, you’ll be entered into a drawing. At the end of the month, I will draw a lucky winner who will receive a $10 gift card (your choice, Amazon, Starbucks or iTunes). Winners will be announced in the first post of the following month.

Please tune in next Tuesday for The Gift of Fear: Déjà vu or Reincarnation?, where I’ll talk about how I actually overcame my fear of death.